Write 200 words, using only the first 50 unique words. From George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, “Why does this exercise work? I’m not sure. The constraints have something to do with it (the 50-word limit and the exacting — 200, not 199, not 201 — word count). When a person is doing this exercise, her…

From George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, “Why does this exercise work? I’m not sure. The constraints have something to do with it (the 50-word limit and the exacting — 200, not 199, not 201 — word count). When a person is doing this exercise, her…

The sky is blue while a swath of elongated clouds are lit up by the rising sun. The Venetian blinds are pushed to one side, exposing the picture window and the patio deck attached to the apartment. …

This is an assignment in Method Writing. The dialogue is ordained. Between lines of dialogue, there should be no action, just description and commentary. “Sorry,” the cop said. They were standing on the street eyes down, just looking at his son’s hamster bleeding out. …

I confess to a thousand years of patriarchy, the great game, slavery, and the First Crusade but not the Third. I admit the Lady expired in the Tower of Power, amid false accusations of adultery. I don’t know what comes next. The flood waters rise up and fill my cracked…

i want to crawl in the mud. i want to rise up above humanity, like a flower in the chardonnay, the trees uncut and towering, sporning spores into poison flowers. i want to learn to hunt and conquer, to be Alexander, to rape and pillage, take over villages, burn…

Forget everything you learned about writing. Write like you talk. — This is the most important thing you will ever learn about writing. Write like you talk. It is foundational to everything you do as a writer, and in every kind of writing. The goal of writing is not to impress the reader with vocabulary or turns of phrase or breathtaking…